Photo by Doug Johnson-Mountaineer Maven
West Virginia's Seniors Finish Home Career on High Note
The Mountaineers honored a trio of players on Senior Day Saturday inside the Coliseum as Jermaine Haley, Chase Harler and Logan Routt were all recognized for their achievements in the old gold and blue.
Let’s begin with the journeyman himself, Haley, who has seen his college basketball career make three stops including ones at New Mexico State in his freshman year, as well as Odessa College during his sophomore season before transferring again, the third time to West Virginia.
"It's been a blessing," Haley explained. "These guys have done a great job with me since I came in and even before I came in when they were recruiting me. All praise goes to those guys."
In his junior campaign, the Vancouver, British Columbia native started 24 of the team’s 36 games as he averaged 7.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per contest. Haley also led the Mountaineers with 37 steals.
This season has seen a slight increase in Haley’s offensive production as the senior has averaged 8.9 points per game which included a season high 18-point performance against Rhode Island on December 1st.
The former two-time West Virginia Gatorade Boys basketball player of the year, Chase Harler has made a staple name for himself through his four years on this West Virginia squad. Harler originally attended Wheeling Central High School, where he earned the USA Today American Family Insurance All-USA West Virginia Player of the Year award as well as being named as a West Virginia first team All-State selection three separate times.
"I grew up watching WVU basketball and sometimes I forget how much of a blessing this experience has been," Harler said. "I'm playing for WVU after watching WVU for so many years, and I definitely take great pride in it."
The hype around Harler was as big as ever before coming to Morgantown in 2016 as many felt like he disappointed in his freshman season. The freshman only averaged 1.4 points per game, but barely saw the floor at all in his first season.
Harler’s sophomore season saw a similar story play out as the Moundsville, WV native only started a pair of games while appearing in 33 matchups and only notching 1.6 points per game and 0.7 rebounds per contest.
His junior season finally saw a little momentum pick up for the guard as Harler started 17 games and netted 5.4 points per game and had many games where he notched double digit points.
This season has seen Harler enjoy a number of offensive performances after the senior notched a season high 14 points against Iowa State on February 5th. The senior also hit a trio of threes against Iowa State which is something he has been working on in his game.
"As I've grown throughout my four years here I've gotten more comfortable in my skin and more comfortable with myself, and my only regret is I wish I would have done that a little bit earlier," he admitted.
West Virginia has been lucky with their dominant frontcourt in Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver, but let's not forget about Logan Routt.
Routt was born and raised in Florida, but moved to Cameron, WV early in his teenage years. Before coming to Morgantown, Routt experienced a very successful high school career after totaling 1,089 points through his four years as well as averaging 20 points and 14 rebounds during that span.
After sitting out his freshman season due to being redshirted, the big man averaged 1.1 points and 1.6 rebounds per game through his first two years of his college career.
It wasn’t until his junior year that Routt began to see somewhat of a spike in his offensive production after netting 2.3 points per game but his real work came on the boards where the junior grabbed 71 total rebounds.
Routt’s role to this Mountaineer team may not have just come with his on-court production but also as a teammate and leader of the team as a well-respected player on each one of his Mountaineer squads.
These Mountaineers will be remembered for their production on the court as well as their leadership and team attitude on West Virginia’s hard-nosed and gritty teams through the last four years.
